Business Coaches Make Great IT Entrepreneurs

TeamLogic IT Franchise explains three reasons why a successful business coach makes a great managed IT business owner

You are a business coach. Like all business coaches, you have skills, drive, and a slew of clients who come to you for business advice. They’ve worked the curriculum, they’ve streamlined processes, and they’ve squirreled away the emergency fund, the growth fund, and the capital investment fund. 

You’re a business coach, a good one, and you have the client list to prove it. Like many business coaches, though, you’ve reached the capacity for coaching and plateaued. Now, you’re looking for the right opportunity to put all those skills you’ve been teaching for years into practice for yourself. 

TeamLogic IT franchise is here to provide you with an overview of one of the fastest-growing business consulting segments in America. You’ve got the knowledge and the skills. Now, it’s time to put them to work growing your own business. 

The State of the Coaching Industry

Business coaching is a big business in America. From Fortune 25 companies, down to the corner grocery store, businesses of every size have come to recognize the value an effective business coach brings to their operation.

In 2020, business coaches in the U.S. generated some $11 billion in revenue, according to business analytics firm IBISWorld.(1) But the size of the industry tells only part of the story. 

Over the past five years, the industry has grown just one percent. More importantly, during the 2020 pandemic, total revenues fell more than 8% as companies slashed budgets and gutted spending to survive the economic downturn.

For many business coaches, that has meant a devastating blow to earnings. Many have found themselves scrambling to find a way to make up the lost revenue. That raises an important question: why not put the skills you’ve developed helping other businesses into building your own company?

What is a Managed IT business?

Virtually every business in America relies on technology in some form. Fast food restaurants need point-of-sale systems, menu boards, and scheduling systems. Law firms require computers, networks, printers, and scanners. Even the local mechanic’s shop has a cash register and computer printer.

Who keeps all that technology running? After all, your local burger joint can’t afford a full-time IT professional to manage the receipt printers, and IT professionals probably wouldn’t enjoy frying chicken nuggets. That’s where a managed IT business comes into play.

Companies engage a managed IT business, or Managed Services Provider (MSP), to provide them with technical support, computer setup and maintenance, network security, and more. And managed IT is a big business, too.

Managed IT business is big business for business coaches

The next time you’re visiting a client’s location or grabbing a cuppa with an old colleague, pay attention to the technology around you. That Muzak system? It runs over an internet connection or a networked satellite dish. The iPad touch screen you ordered on? Internet. The printers? They’re connected to the cash register. 

According to Grand View Research, the managed IT industry hit almost $175 billion in 2019. (2) Despite the pandemic, the industry is on target to more than double from 2014 to 2025. It’s even growing during the pandemic. 

Helpnet Security is a web resource for managed IT professionals who specialize in security. Helpnet notes that more than 80% of Managed Services Providers (MSPs) surveyed were operating at pre-pandemic levels at the height of Covid-19. (3) It makes sense if you think about it.

While most businesses in the country went virtual, who did they rely on to help them make the transition, to provide the knowledge, skills, and security they needed to weather the storm? Who will they rely on as business needs continue to evolve in a post-COVID world? Right now, a Managed IT business makes a great investment.

Three reasons why business coaches make great IT professionals

You may think you lack the skillset to successfully launch and manage a new MSP because you “don’t know enough about computers,” or have no clue about network security. But unless you’re a left-handed monkey wrench, you also don’t have any direct knowledge of how to perform appendectomies for that medical practice you helped reach its growth targets last year.

Here are three reasons why business coaches are awesome Managed IT business owners:

You already have the skills you need

Categorize the skills you possess as a business coach and add them to the coaching knowledge you impart to your clients every day. Here’s just a shortlist of those traits:

• You are a sales professional who understands negotiating agreements
• You manage a business that is growth-focused and service-oriented
• You understand the importance of efficient processes and procedures
• You inspire people around you to achieve their goals, both personal and professional
• You troubleshoot business problems and help clients develop solutions that work for them

These are the traits that make a successful business coach. They also happen to be the kinds of skills you’ll need to grow a thriving managed IT business.

As you’ve probably told a client or two, the tools are all there in the toolbox. It’s up to you to realize you can use them to make the kind of business you want. 

You possess an entrepreneurial spirit

Successful business coaches are entrepreneurs at heart. You thrive on building something out of very little. More importantly, you also have a few skills and resources that prove invaluable to building a managed IT business:

• You know your business community and have contacts in multiple industries
• You have a long list of existing clients and dozens of more referrals to businesses
• You understand how to grow a business from scratch in your community because you’ve already done so

As a business coach, you built a successful practice from literally zero clients. When you decide to open a managed IT business, you won’t be starting from scratch. Many of those clients you’ve served faithfully over the years will also need managed IT services. There is a great synergy between an MSP and a business coaching practice.

You are a compassionate and understanding leader

One of the primary skills business coaches share with owners of managed IT businesses is the ability to listen, to comprehend complex challenges, and to provide guidance and knowledge when you can. These are also the traits of a good managed IT business owner.

The difference is that, instead of coaching the local autoplex through this growth, you’ll be coaching your own team of IT professionals. You’ll help them set goals, grow personally and professionally, and provide the services your clients need.

You’ve got all the tools in your toolbox, and you’ve been using them to grow other peoples’ businesses for years. Now it’s time to put those tools to work for you.

Join TeamLogic IT franchise

TeamLogic IT is looking for business professionals like you to become the next TeamLogic IT owner. An affordable managed IT business opportunity, TeamLogic IT can help you open and operate your own business in the potentially lucrative managed IT industry. 

For more information, visit our franchise information pages, or download our free, Franchise Information Report. Or if you’re ready to get started, you can contact our franchise sales team to request consideration today.